The Drug Foundation has a radical proposal to treat drug use as a health issue rather than a criminal one.

Executive Director Ross Bell unveiled the plan at Parliament this afternoon in an effort to reduce the harm of drugs.

It’s estimated illicit drugs cost New Zealand $1.8 billion a year in health, social and economic terms.

Mr Bell wants to remove criminal penalties for personal possession, use and social supply of all drugs, but says commercial supply and trafficking would still be illegal.

Those caught with drugs by police would be cautioned and given health and medical advice, and if they continue to use drugs they would then be assessed by treatment centres to see if they need addiction help.

The proposal also suggests developing a strictly regulated cannabis market, like we do with alcohol and tobacco.

“Learn from our mistakes that we’ve made with alcohol and tobacco put in strict controls around price marketing who can sell it and use any tax raised from that to reinvest back into the problem,” Mr Bell told 1 News.

The Government’s own figures suggest legalising cannabis could collect an extra $150 million a year in tax revenue.

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.

They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.